Gift of Communication
My day began yesterday with attention to writing a Journal Snippet, and then emailing to those who have asked, as I have done for over a year. A great way to begin the day – looking at God’s Word and seeing what it means for me. Only the email could not be sent…needs a password? What? My daughter suggested rebooting. I did. Nothing changed. Finally, I sent a text to our son, the computer consultant! He said, “We will have to look at that”. After a day of trying to email with my iPad and visiting my dear husband, I wondered. In the evening, Tim came. In an hour, email was restored. I watched as his fingers flew over the keyboard to make it happen, and remembered memories Moms always remember when their child becomes so knowledgeable as an adult.
Anna, our daughter told me how thankful she can be in constant communication with her husband, children and me. Communication. Do we take this gift for granted? The technology has gone far beyond tin cans with string. Little did we know as children how far technology would bring us. My Aunt took me even farther into thankfulness yesterday when I talked to her on the telephone yesterday. Technology crunches distance and makes it disappear.
How often I marvel at the strength of my ancestors who came to this country in the 1800’s for freedom of worship. They often left part of the family behind. Letters took weeks, if at all, to learn about their welfare. During the 1970’s, my husband went to Vietnam. My letters that asked questions no longer needed answers, because of the length of time that had passed.
Communication is a gift. How we use this gift becomes the question. Communications, to be effective needs to be both ways. The speaker and the listener are needed. In Galatians 5:13, Paul writes, “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.”
Considering how our words can show love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. When we speak will we show love to others? Communication can make a relationship rich or fall on the rocks of contention and anger.
God communicates with us, too. He wants a loving relationship with us. He wants to walk and talk with us. He spoke the world into being. Words so powerful that we are in awe of His Glory and Power. God has an important message for us. He had a Word for us and speaks to us through His Son Jesus. This is Who Jesus is:
“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it”. John 1:1-4
The question comes, is all this technology that we choose to use, covering up the Voice of God and His leading? Closing our ears to truth and wisdom is something we choose to do or not.
May this not be so! Using our technology to encourage and show God’s love to others, to build a closer relationship with our Lord God and to our family and that God places into our lives is commendable. Listening is part of this communication. Easier said than done. Silence, used for the expectancy of hearing the essence of love, creates closer relationships brings hope and trust and joy.
One of the greatest blessings a parent of grown children enjoys is when their children tell that they love you and to continue to communicate with you. In many ways, they communicate that they love you and thank you for the things you are and taught them. How much more does our Father God want to hear from us? Not just for the things He can give us but for Who He is, our Creator and Giver of Grace and Eternity.
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace. 2 Thessalonians 2:16 – 17
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Psalm 103:1-2
The Lord, the Mighty One, is God, and he has spoken; he has summoned all humanity from where the sun rises to where it sets. Palm 50:1
God has spoken plainly, and I have heard it many times: Power, O God, belongs to you. Psalm 62:11
Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. Hebrews 1:1
And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. Hebrews 1:2
When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: “Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also.” Hebrews 12:16
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